Many people, whether due to age, injury, or disease, require some form of mechanical apparatus, or assistive device, to help them remain mobile. Wheelchairs are one well-known means of providing some degree of mobility for those who cannot walk on their own. Another means for providing mobility assistance to people who have difficulty walking is a class of apparatus referred to as walkers.
Some walkers are essentially a frame upon which a person may lean for balance and support. Such walkers require a person to pick up the walker and reposition it so that that person may then step toward the new position of the walker while leaning thereon for support. Another type of walker includes wheels attached to the frame, forming a wheeled walker, so that the walker may be repositioned by rolling rather than by being lifted and moved.
Various wheeled walkers are known to provide a one or more of a variety of features such as hand-operated controls for engaging a braking mechanism to stop the walker, a basket for containing articles, foldable frames for compact storage, and a rear-facing seat suitable sitting and including a cross-arm that acts as a back to the rear-facing seat.
Unfortunately, the rear-facing seating arrangement of conventional wheeled walkers prevents a person from conveniently grasping the handles and moving the walker when the rear-facing seat is occupied.
What is needed are apparatus for assisting people with walking, wherein those apparatus are reconfigurable to provide seating in either the forward-facing, or the rear-facing direction.